Abbey Road Studios

Abbey Road Studios (formerly known as EMI Studios) is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John’s Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, which owned it until 2012.

Originally a nine-bedroom Georgiantownhouse built in the 1830s on the footpath leading to Kilburn Abbey, the building was later converted to flats where the most flamboyant resident was Maundy Gregory. The premises were acquired by the Gramophone Company in 1931 and converted into studios. Pathé filmed the opening of the studios, whenSir Edward Elgar conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in recording sessions of his music.

Following the success of major films like Star Wars and Superman, which were filmed and produced entirely in the UK, the scoring stage Anvil struck a deal with Abbey Road’s manager Ken Townsend. A new company Anvil-Abbey Road Screen Sound was formed and by the end of 1980 the first full orchestra film scoring session had taken place in Studio One (The Empire Strikes Back was only part-scored at Abbey Road, the majority was recorded at Anvil following on from its predecessor, Star Wars). The Studio gained a new kudos and still holds a reputation as the film community’s first choice for film scoring outside the US.

Additionally, a new modern studio was being built on the top floor of Abbey Road. Named the Penthouse studio, its 48 track machine plus Neve console and windows that looked out onto the skyline of St John’s Wood are a rare feature for any studio.